16 October—So the latest federal government giveaway is the student loan forgiveness program. It will encourage universities to raise their tuition to even more outrageous levels in order to (1) overpay tenured faculty for doing very little teaching and not as much research as they should be doing; (2) obscenely pay totally useless, often incompetent administrators; (3) continue to underpay and abuse non-tenured newly hired and adjunct faculty; (4) further legitimize and glorify sports to the detriment of academics.

The University of Connecticut is a prime exemplar of that systemic abuse, mismanagement, and sheer stupidity. The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system isn’t far behind. But that’s a digression.

Student loan forgiveness was a great idea, if only to suck up to voters. In reality, however, it’s totally unfair to most taxpayers—people who either never went to college or paid off their loans without government handouts.

The consummate insult added to the injury of the loan forgiveness swindle is that anybody and his Uncle Shmendrick can apply to have a student loan forgiven simply by claiming—self-certifying is the term of art—that they have an outstanding student loan they’d rather not repay. Just think of all the fraudulent self-certification that’s bound to cost honest taxpayers billions, perhaps trillions of dollars.

Because that’s what happened with the totally forgivable Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans that came as an ill-conceived, politically opportunistic response to the COVID panic. False claims, lying applicants out the ying-yang. That’s the beauty of self-certification. Very, very, very little investigation or follow-up by authorities who didn’t even know where to begin. Most of the lying buggers who skillfully played—hoodwinked—the system are still enjoying the fruits of their ill-gotten gains.

And does anyone really think all the people who self-certify their student loan forgiveness applications and indebtedness are going to be any less dishonest, knowing how many of them (among others, to be sure), got away with defrauding the government with PPP loans?

The United States Government in action. What else is new? Don’t you just love it . . .